House Republican leaders are reportedly mulling a possible stopgap spending bill that could be placed on the floor while they build support for appropriations bills on much shakier ground — and ultimately skirt a partial government shutdown in October.
Some Republicans see it as a way to take a shutdown off the table, and avoid pressure from Democrats to accept a catchall omnibus or appropriations bills that spend more than conservatives want, Roll Call reported, citing an unnamed source.
According to Roll Call, GOP leaders are holding talks with rank-and-file members to try to build support to pass all the full-year fiscal 2024 bills after they are reported out of the Appropriations Committee — while recognizing more changes may be needed to get the 218 votes they need for passage.
But there's still a chance some hard-line conservatives might block consideration of bills that don't cut spending as deeply as they want, the news outlet reported. Just five Republicans can tank any of the bills. Democrats are expected to be unified against them.
GOP leaders have set spending allocations below the topline levels agreed to in last month's debt limit suspension law brokered by Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and the White House. But some critics pushed back during a meeting with McCarthy on June 23, Roll Call reported.
"I'm very frustrated," Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., a Freedom Caucus member who attended the meeting, said. "I don't know how we get off this train of continuous spending."
Norman was particularly critical of a leadership plan to tap roughly $115 billion from previously appropriated, but unspent, funds to boost nondefense spending that would otherwise be fair game for deeper cuts.
"I'm not into any more smoke and mirrors," Norman said.
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., agreed, telling Roll Call: "I'd like to see clear cuts again, not accounting tricks."
"Put me down as a 'no' until you hear otherwise. I don't support them until I see the final numbers," he said of the appropriations bills. "They said everything's on the table. I'm not ready to throw in the towel on this thing."
The ultimate fallback option would be a full-year continuing resolution, which nobody would like, Roll Call reported.
"I don't vote for CRs," Burchett told Roll Call. "I'm tired of compromising on the future of our country's financial well-being."
Norman said the June 23 meeting offered a starting point toward a resolution.
"They heard us out," he told Roll Call. "We spoke our peace."